THE POWER TO DESTROY

IRS honcho Lois Lerner to retire

At center of agency's scrutiny of tea-party groups

Published: 09/23/2013 at 3:11 PM

(BLOOMBERG) Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the controversy surrounding the agency’s scrutiny of Tea Party groups, has retired effective today, according to a Republican congressional aide.

Lerner, the tax agency’s former director of exempt organizations, was placed on paid administrative leave earlier this year. Last week, acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel told a congressional committee that she was “technically still employed.”

The agency informed some in Congress about the retirement, said the aide, who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversation.